Talk:Servitors/@comment-73.213.242.57-20150319004950
Creating And Working With Servitors One may be asking himself upon reading this, 'what exactly IS a servitor?'. Simply put, a servitor is a thoughtform - a living, functioning entity - a spirit - which exists to fulfill a task - and it is created by you. Servitors are also known as 'constructs' or 'servitor spirits'. They are commonly created and worked with in Ceremonial and Chaos Magick; however, they can serve a variety of purposes for those following just about any path. You may be wondering, 'how can a simple human being such as myself create a spirit?' - well, again, the answer is simple. You aren't really 'creating' anything. We are merely re-shaping energy which already exists and 'programming' it with a specific intent and task. Spirit is energy - and energy resides within us, about us and in every thought and action which we execute. In short, we are energy, our emotions are energy, our Will is energy - and, as the building block of Spirit, energy is an abundant resource found in every corner of the earth and in the heart and mind and flesh of every human being. If you have the will and the intention and the focus - then, with these tools, you have all that you need to create a servitor. As a 'simple spirit' or entity, a servitor operates on, essentially, two basic fundamental principles - survival and the execution of the steps needed for completion of its assigned purpose. Just as we 'instinctively' seek to answer the natural calls to mate, feed and survive, a servitor equally seeks to find and use energy with which to function and to persist (to 'live') long enough to fulfill its purpose in 'life'. The energy needed to sustain a servitor, i.e. - to keep it 'alive', is provided in a number of ways - but, most simply, it thrives on simple acknowledgment and praise. This will be discussed a bit later on. What Does A Servitor Do? Think of a servitor as a 'living spell' - an entity that 'records' your intent and goes forth to carry it out for you - in return for its service, it feeds upon the energy which you supply for it. It's 'life force' is dependent upon you and how you 'program' it to 'feed'. But first, the purpose. For example, if you wished for a certain team to win a game - you may wish to create a servitor to assist you in the accomplishment of this 'task'. The first step in servitor construction is the definition of its purpose for being. Answer the following questions when contemplating the creation of a servitor: ~What do I want it to 'do' for me? ~What do I not want it to do to accomplish its task? Is there anything 'off-limits' that it will be forbidden to do? ~What is the window of time needed for the goal to be accomplished? ~When the servitor has accomplished its goal, should I deconstruct it or let it persevere for 'maintenance work' where the task is concerned? Creating A Servitor Once you have decided upon your intention and have defined a purpose for your servitor, it is time to construct its vessel or 'body'. Some may be familiar with the Golem of Jewish lore - a 'doll-like' vessel (usually clay) which housed a spirit. These resembled little 'clay men'. However they are not to be confused with 'Voodoo dolls' in any way. The purpose of this reference is to draw your attention to an important part of servitor creation - the vessel. Though Golems and Servitors are similar, they are not the same. The vessel, or the 'body', is an earthly construction, usually a clay or Papier-mâché 'doll' or a paper, wax, cloth or wooden seal or sigil, made by the creator of the servitor in which to be a physically binding connection to the spirit of the entity. The existence of the earthly vessel does not mean that the spirit is not free to travel (as it must in order to fulfill its purpose!), but, again, it serves as a tangible and material connection, giving you a physical 'link' to the spirit. Your own creativity will play a part in exactly 'what' the vessel is. As mentioned before, it can be a clay (or any other material) figure, a paper seal with the entity's sigil inscribed (sigils will be discussed shortly), a candle - just about anything that can be destroyed. The purpose of the vessel is to have, in your possession, a method for 'controlling' the servitor and, later on, deconstructing it when it has accomplished its task. Some use modeling clay to shape a human-like figure. For this article, this is the form that I will be referring to - although you may choose something entirely of your own invention. It is important to remain focused on the intention while crafting your vessel. It need not be complex, but you should try incorporating herbs, planetary glyphs, colors or any other correspondences which are relative to the purpose. Also, it is very important to inscribe somewhere on the vessel or to incorporate into it in some way the actual statement of purpose for the servitor, your original intention, the 'rules' that it must obey and the duration of life to serve as a physical declaration which is now permanently attached to the 'body'. As you may not have room to inscribe full sentences onto your vessel, you may feel free to convert this all into sigil form if you so choose. As with Golems, one may even write the statements on parchment paper, roll it into a tiny scroll and place it into the mouth of the vessel or somehow inside of it. If you are using a seal version of a vessel, this becomes easier as you can create something like a locket with an inner compartment. When you have constructed the 'body', it is time to create a name. Naming Your Servitor If one is not familiar with the use of sigils, then it may pay for one to investigate the various techniques used in their creation. A simple method to recall is to use your predefined task in sentence form. For example 'The Panthers Team Will Triumph Over The Hawks Team Next Saturday'. One may easily take the first letter from each word - TPTWTOTHTNS - and use on its own to create a 'name'. It may even be that you choose non-repeating letters from the sentence to use as the letters of the name. If it is preferred, the letters from each word may be converted to numbers (ex. numbered alphabetically) and added together until a single number exists for each word of the sentence, making 8 numbers in all for the above example. Your imagination is the limit. Once a 'name' has been established (we will use TPTWTOTHTNS for this example), it is encouraged that the next step be the creation of a magickal 'glyph' or sigil to represent the name. This can be done by combining the letters into an interesting sigil (Figure 1), by using various planetary or Zodiacal glyphs, by using various runes and combining them into a 'bindrune' or, amongst many other methods, by converting the letters to numbers and charting their 'paths' on a planetary square (as exemplified in this article); the result of the planetary squares sigil is seen in Figure 2 below (for Figure 2, I used the square of Mars for the correspondence to athletes and athletics): Figure 1. - Simple Letter Sigilization Image Figure 2. - Planetary Square Sigilization Image Once the sigil or glyph has been 'designed', it is time to bring the spirit into being. It takes a great deal of focus, will and energy to create a servitor, so it is best that you arrange your creation process to occur during a time when you can be assuredly undisturbed and when any planetary or elemental influences are ripe for the carrying out of your task. Grounding and centering are recommended, but they are not prerequisites. Some traditions may encourage you to cast a magick circle and to cleanse the working space and the vessel - it is entirely up to you and to your own tradition or path and depends solely on which measures you feel that you must take to keep yourself safe and to work efficiently. Creation Now it is time to create a checklist for ourselves to be certain that we have made all appropriate preparations for the construction of our servitor before the actual 'birthing' process begins: 1. A clear predefined and precisely worded statement of intention, purpose, boundaries and period of duration for the servitor. 2. A 'body' or vessel in which to 'ground' the spirit. 3. A name and sigil designed for the servitor. 4. Any grounding, centering or precautionary arrangements which you or your tradition require to be in place before creation must begin. Now you are ready to bring your servitor to life. The simplest method is to have your sigil already etched/inscribed onto the vessel and to have the vessel near you (preferably directly in front of you). Begin to bring yourself into a meditative state, relaxing your body and clearing your mind. Let the thought of your original intention enter into your mind as you enter ritual consciousness. If you like, you may recite the original intention, purpose of the servitor, 'rules' and duration of life as you focus your gaze on the vessel and the inscribed sigil. You may also chant the name of the servitor if you like, so long as you focus on the sigil. Feel the life inside of your body - the energy - the subtle vibrations of your electromagnetic field, your aura, resonating through every cell in your body. Imagine that this energy is a glowing light, dim at first, dispersed throughout your body and all around it. The glow becomes brighter as you chant - building the energy within you and drawing it in from about you. Envision the energy moving through your body and being drawn in from about you and all of it beginning to well up in your right hand as a swirling glowing ball of pure life and energy, pulsating like a beating heart, white and blinding with the creative force of the Universe. Now take the vessel into your left hand and 'hold' the ball of light in your right hand directly in front of your mouth (as if to 'blow' a kiss) - between your mouth and the vessel. Say: 'By the breath of life, awaken unto being.' Now 'blow' the light from your hand into the vessel, as you would blow upon a dandelion. Envision the light continuing the flow into the vessel as you imagine it beginning to grow warm and vibrate - the tiny 'body' in your left hand now pulsating with light as it glows all over. When you feel that the servitor is fully 'alive', stop the flow of energy and envision your body pulsating and glowing with lifeforce and the tiny vessel in your left hand also glowing and pulsating with lifeforce. Say to the servitor/vessel: 'Hearken and awake!' Envision it 'awakening', attentive, listening to your voice and ready to be commanded. At this point, recite to it your intention, its purpose, the 'rules' and its duration of life. Instruct it that it obeys only you and command it to sleep when you so instruct and to awaken when you so instruct. Inform it that it is bound by its earthly vessel and that it must return when commanded to do so. Welcome it to the world and tell it its name (if pronounceable - if not, focus on its sigil). Now command it to sleep for the time being. The 'Feeding' Of A Servitor A servitor must be routinely 'fed' or maintained in order to ensure its survival. A servitor feeds on energy. Energy may be supplied in the form of praise, acknowledgment, focus, direct energy transfer (cautiously and only for the experienced) or even by programming the servitor to 'feed' off the collective energies of an event such as a ballgame, a storm or even a sensational news story or court case. Remember that where there is a large amount of interest and emotion involved within a group of people (be it a mob or an entire country), there is energy to spare for use by your servitor. You must set limits for your servitor and it is important to be sure that it understands any boundaries, ethical or otherwise, which you set for it. Always use caution and precision when programming a servitor to feed off the energies of others. Furthermore, you may choose to feed your servitor by a schedule - and you may take advantage of this in ensuring that a feeding session lasts no more than a certain amount of time in order to avoid any excess siphoning. Limits are key. The easiest method of feeding a servitor, however, is to simply take time each day to acknowledge it either by meditation or by actively praising it or focusing on it. The following will serve as a review of 'servitor basics': 1. A servitor is a living entity, made of Spirit - it must be maintained and fed regularly. It must be commended for a job well done and reprimanded for failure. These seemingly 'harsh' instructions exist to 'train' the servitor and to ensure that it remains focused on the task at hand. However, it must be respected as a living, functioning being. 2. A servitor must have an earthly vessel by which the creator may control it and by which it is obligated to return to upon command and upon final deconstruction. 3. A servitor is most usually deconstructed after it has completed its task. Once you have devised how and when your servitor will be fed, you may awaken it by instructing it to awaken. You may then inform it of its feeding schedule and any other particulars. Commanding Your Servitor To Fulfill Its Task At this point, you may now command your servitor to go forth and bring about the completion of its task. You may instruct it to complete its task within a given time frame, but it will already be automatically operating by a schedule if you have specified a duration of life. Once you have sent forth your servitor, it is wise to pay attention to any signs that it is doing its job. If you are able to observe such signs, then you may 'reward' the servitor by praising it and thus treating it to an extra boost of energy. However, if you observe that the servitor is not doing its job and possibly even breaking some of the rules, you may deny it a feeding and scold it for failing to do its job or for crossing the boundaries that it is forbidden to cross. Servitors may manifest themselves as any spirit may - they may never make themselves 'known' to others or, on the opposite end of the scale, may display poltergeist-like behavior depending upon the situation. It is important not to become alarmed if the latter occurs. You may command the servitor to refrain from making itself known in such a way in the future if it becomes troublesome. The Fulfillment Of Purpose And Deconstruction Once your servitor has completed its task, you are faced with a difficult decision - but one which you, hopefully, made before you brought it to life. Your servitor must now be thanked and deconstructed. Alternately, you may make the decision to allow it to 'live' for a while longer and to perform 'maintenance' where the original goal is concerned in order to assure that the situation continues to work out as you desired. For instance, if your servitor's goal was to ensure that your grandma made it through her surgery alright - then you may wish for the servitor to remain in order to lend its energy and aid to seeing that she makes a full recovery. Regardless, the ultimate fate of the servitor is deconstruction. Where deconstruction is concerned, some may view this as 'killing' the servitor, but it is not the case. It is simply dismantling the form and returning the energy to the source, to the environment, to yourself. Remember that energy cannot be created nor destroyed but rather only assigned one form or another and returned to the environment from which it came. By deconstructing the servitor, you are ensuring that the entity does not become parasitic to either yourself or to others, leeching off energy wherever it can find it. Compare it to turning a stray animal out into the elements - it will survive on what it can and may even become dangerous. Servitors may also be responsible for many cases of 'hauntings' and perceived attacks by 'psi vampires'. To deconstrust a servitor - one must simply reverse the process of creation. The Deconstruction Find a quiet place and time and bring yourself into a meditative state. Focus on the servitor and acknowledge it by name - praise it for the good job that it has done and instruct it to sleep. Now, hold the vessel/servitor in your right hand this time. Envision it glowing and pulsating with lifeforce, a white glow surrounding its body and flowing throughout it. Envision the same lifeforce pulsating and flowing through and about your own. Envision the light within and about the vessel/servitor becoming brighter, blinding almost. With your palm turned upwards (as if to blow a kiss), bring your left hand to your mouth. Say to the vessel/servitor: 'Breath of life, return unto me'. Now draw in a deep and solid breath, envisioning the bright light within and about the vessel/servitor passing from it to your hand towards the force of your drawn breath. Imagine the light continuing to be 'pulled' from the servitor/vessel into you and bouncing back out all about you until the vessel is no more than a lifeless object. Imagine the lifeforce within you pulsating strongly and the spirit of the servitor being absorbed into yourself and into the environment surrounding you. Then envision it all subsiding subtly as you say: 'It is done'. The next and final step should be the destruction of the vessel. It is important that the vessel be buried, burned or disintegrated in some manner. It is also important not to think of the servitor or its spirit as you dispose of the vessel, remembering, instead, that it is merely an earthly object which you are returning to Nature. 2008 - T Bone & Magicka School